Sarah Michelle Gellar says Buffy almost rose again—but one Hulu executive staked the revival. Speaking to People after the SXSW premiere of Ready or Not 2, Gellar says she learned just before stepping onstage that Hulu had scrapped the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot she'd been developing for years with Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao. The project, which shot a pilot, would have followed an older Buffy alongside a new slayer played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong. Gellar claims an unnamed executive who was "not a fan" of the original series and was "proud" of never having watched it was the key obstacle: "That tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one."
The timing of the cancellation call—on the weekend of Gellar's big-screen return and Zhao's Oscars appearance for Hamnet—left them "disappointed" and "saddened," Gellar says. Disney currently controls the Buffy rights, so the pilot can't move to another outlet, though sources say Hulu is still considering what Buffy's future could look like. Gellar, who says she's been flooded with support from fans and former castmates, insists the original series' "timeless" legacy is intact, even if this comeback isn't. Zhao, meanwhile, told Variety on the Oscars red carpet that she was "not surprised" by the cancellation. "Things happen for a reason, and we keep our hearts open and we welcome the mystery. And what this might lead us to," she said.
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